The Battle of the Agencies is once again part of the DDMA EMAS Awards 2025 program, and registration is officially open. Ambitious email marketing agencies can now register by submitting their motivation via emas.nu/awards/battle.
In this competition, agencies compete to create the best email campaign for a client. The winner will establish itself as an authority in the field and gain visibility among a (inter)national audience, including potential clients.
The Client: KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association)
This year, the client for the Battle of the Agencies is KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association). Agencies can submit their motivation until March 20th to participate. KNVB will review the submissions anonymously and select three agencies for the competition.
Process for Selected Agencies
Once KNVB has selected three agencies based on their motivations, the process will be as follows:
- Case Briefing: The selected agencies will receive the case details from KNVB.
- Campaign Design: Agencies will create an email design based on KNVB’s briefing.
- HTML Submission: The nominated agencies must submit one HTML email to KNVB, based on the approved design. The email may include dynamic content as specified in the briefing.
- Target Audience: The target audience for all emails is uniform and will be selected by KNVB.
- Email Dispatch: KNVB will handle the dispatch using its own systems.
- Simultaneous Communication: All communications will be sent simultaneously by KNVB.
- Results and Announcement: KNVB will analyze the results and announce the winner at the EMAS on June 26.
Important: If the provided email does not meet the requirements, KNVB reserves the right to cancel the email dispatch at any time.
Evaluation Criteria
KNVB will evaluate the submitted emails based on the following metrics:
- Conversion Rate
- Open Rate
- Click-to-Open Ratio
- Unsubscribe Rate
- Creativity and Originality (assessed by KNVB’s email marketing team)
Case Pitch and Award Ceremony
On June 26, during the DDMA Email Marketing Automation Summit (EMAS), the three selected agencies will compete for the prize. Each agency will present a pitch (8 to 10 minutes) explaining their approach, the rationale behind their choices, and the design of their campaign. KNVB will then announce the winner.